diff --git a/hack/calculate-cache.sh b/hack/calculate-cache.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..a51904ace61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/calculate-cache.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# This script calculates the expected content size, actual cached size, and cache-keys used in caching method prior and after
+# implementation in https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/pull/2508
+#
+# Answer to the question in https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/pull/2508#discussion_r1699798651
+set -u -o pipefail
+
+required_commands=(gh jq limactl sha256sum xxd yq)
+for cmd in "${required_commands[@]}"; do
+	if ! command -v "${cmd}" &>/dev/null; then
+		echo "${cmd} is required. Please install it" >&2
+		exit 1
+	fi
+done
+
+# current workflow uses x86_64 only
+arch=x86_64
+
+LIMA_HOME=$(mktemp -d)
+export LIMA_HOME
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+macos_12=(
+	# integration
+	examples/default.yaml
+	# vmnet
+	examples/vmnet.yaml
+	# upgrade
+	https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lima-vm/lima/v0.15.1/examples/ubuntu-lts.yaml
+)
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+ubuntu_2204=(
+	# integration-linux
+	examples/alpine.yaml
+	examples/debian.yaml
+	examples/fedora.yaml
+	examples/archlinux.yaml
+	examples/opensuse.yaml
+	examples/experimental/net-user-v2.yaml
+	examples/experimental/9p.yaml
+	examples/docker.yaml
+	examples/../hack/test-templates/alpine-9p-writable.yaml
+	examples/../hack/test-templates/test-misc.yaml
+)
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+macos_13=(
+	# vz
+	examples/experimental/vz.yaml
+	examples/fedora.yaml
+)
+
+runners=(
+	macos_12
+	ubuntu_2204
+	macos_13
+)
+
+function runner_os_from_runner() {
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2249
+	case "$1" in
+	macos*)
+		echo macOS
+		;;
+	ubuntu*)
+		echo Linux
+		;;
+	esac
+}
+
+function check_location() {
+	location="$1"
+	readonly cache_file="./.calculate-cache-response-cache.yaml"
+	# check response_cache.yaml for the cache
+	if [[ -f ${cache_file} ]]; then
+		cached=$(yq -e eval ".[\"${location}\"]" "${cache_file}" 2>/dev/null) && echo "${cached}" && return
+	else
+		touch "${cache_file}"
+	fi
+	http_code_and_size=$(curl -sIL -w "%{http_code} %header{Content-Length}" "${location}" -o /dev/null)
+	yq eval ".[\"${location}\"] = \"${http_code_and_size}\"" -i "${cache_file}"
+	echo "${http_code_and_size}"
+}
+
+function print_location_digest_size_hash_from_template() {
+	readonly template=$1
+	case "${template}" in
+	http*)
+		template_yaml=$(curl -sSL "${template}")
+		;;
+	*)
+		template_yaml=$(<"${template}")
+		;;
+	esac
+	readonly yq_filter="
+		[
+			.images | map(select(.arch == \"${arch}\")) | [.[0,1].location, .[0,1].digest],
+			.containerd|[.system or .user],
+			.containerd.archives | map(select(.arch == \"${arch}\")) | [.[0].location, .[0].digest]
+		]|flatten|.[]
+	"
+	if command -v limactl &>/dev/null; then
+		parsed=$(limactl validate <(echo "${template_yaml}") --fill 2>/dev/null | yq eval "${yq_filter}")
+	else
+		parsed=$(yq eval "${yq_filter}" <<<"${template_yaml}")
+	fi
+	# macOS earlier than 15.0 uses bash 3.2.57, which does not support readarray -t
+	# readarray -t arr <<<"${parsed}"
+	while IFS= read -r line; do arr+=("${line}"); done <<<"${parsed}"
+	readonly locations=("${arr[@]:0:2}") digests=("${arr[@]:2:2}")
+	readonly containerd="${arr[4]}" containerd_location="${arr[5]}" containerd_digest="${arr[6]}"
+	declare location digest size hash
+	for ((i = 0; i < ${#locations[@]}; i++)); do
+		[[ ${locations[i]} != null ]] || continue
+		http_code_and_size=$(check_location "${locations[i]}")
+		read -r http_code size <<<"${http_code_and_size}"
+		if [[ ${http_code} -eq 200 ]]; then
+			location=${locations[i]}
+			digest=${digests[i]}
+			break
+		fi
+	done
+	if [[ -z ${location} ]]; then
+		echo "Failed to get the image location for ${template}" >&2
+		return 1
+	fi
+	hash=$(sha256sum <<<"${template_yaml}" | cut -d' ' -f1 | xxd -r -p | sha256sum | cut -d' ' -f1)
+	declare containerd_size
+	containerd_http_code_and_size=$(check_location "${containerd_location}")
+	read -r _containerd_http_code containerd_size <<<"${containerd_http_code_and_size}"
+	echo "${location} ${digest} ${size} ${hash} ${containerd} ${containerd_location} ${containerd_digest} ${containerd_size}"
+}
+
+# format first column to MiB
+function size_to_mib() {
+	awk '
+		function mib(size) { return sprintf("%7.2f MiB", size / 1024 / 1024) }
+		int($1)>0{ $1=" "mib($1) }
+		int($2)>0{ $2=mib($2) }
+		int($2)==0 && NF>1{ $2="<<missing>>" }
+		{ print }
+	'
+}
+
+# actual_cache_sizes=$(gh cache list --json key,createdAt,sizeInBytes|jq '[.[]|{"key":.key,"value":.sizeInBytes}]|from_entries')
+actual_cache_sizes=$(
+	gh cache list --json key,createdAt,sizeInBytes |
+		jq 'sort_by(.createdAt)|reverse|unique_by(.key)|sort_by(.key)|map({"key":.key,"value":.sizeInBytes})|from_entries'
+)
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+for cache_method in prior after; do
+	echo "==> expected content size, actual cached size, and cache-keys used in caching method ${cache_method} implementation in https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/pull/2508"
+	echo "content-size actual-size cache-key"
+	output_yaml=$(
+		for runner in "${runners[@]}"; do
+			runner_os=$(runner_os_from_runner "${runner}")
+			declare -n ref="${runner}"
+			tepmlates_used_in_test_yml=("${ref[@]}")
+			for template in "${tepmlates_used_in_test_yml[@]}"; do
+				location_digest_size_hash=$(print_location_digest_size_hash_from_template "${template}") || continue
+				read -r location digest size hash containerd containerd_location containerd_digest containerd_size <<<"${location_digest_size_hash}"
+				if [[ ${cache_method} == prior ]]; then
+					key=${runner_os}-${hash}
+				elif [[ ${digest} == null ]]; then
+					key=image:$(basename "${location}")-url-sha256:$(echo -n "${location}" | sha256sum | cut -d' ' -f1)
+				else
+					key=image:$(basename "${location}")-${digest}
+				fi
+				if [[ ${containerd} == true ]]; then
+					if [[ ${cache_method} == prior ]]; then
+						# previous caching method packages the containerd archive with the image
+						size=$((size + containerd_size))
+					else
+						# new caching method packages the containerd archive separately
+						containerd_key=containerd:$(basename "${containerd_location}")-${containerd_digest}
+						cat <<-EOF
+							- key: ${containerd_key}
+							  template: ${template}
+							  location: ${containerd_location}
+							  digest: ${containerd_digest}
+							  size: ${containerd_size}
+						EOF
+					fi
+				fi
+				cat <<-EOF
+					- key: ${key}
+					  template: ${template}
+					  location: ${location}
+					  digest: ${digest}
+					  size: ${size}
+				EOF
+				# echo -e "- key: ${key}\n  template: ${template}\n  location: ${location}\n  size: ${size}\n  containerd: ${containerd}\n  containerd_location: ${containerd_location}\n  containerd_digest: ${containerd_digest}"
+			done
+		done
+	)
+	cat <<<"${output_yaml}" >".calculate-cache-collected-info-${cache_method}.yaml"
+	output_json=$(yq -o=j . <<<"${output_yaml}" | tee ".calculate-cache-collected-info-${cache_method}.json")
+
+	# print size key
+	jq --argjson actual_size "${actual_cache_sizes}" -r 'unique_by(.key)|sort_by(.key)|.[]|[.size, $actual_size[.key] // 0, .key]|@tsv' <<<"${output_json}" | size_to_mib
+	# total
+	echo "------------"
+	jq '[unique_by(.key)|.[]|.size]|add' <<<"${output_json}" | size_to_mib
+	echo ""
+done